The European Poker Tour London event kicked off on Wednesday from the Grosvenor Victoria Casino on Edgeware Road. The starting field was just under 300 players and, at the end of the day, 77 remained. PokerStars, which is the official sponsor of the EPT, expects about 300 more players to turn out for Day 1B on Thursday.
Among the Team PokerStars Pros that made waves in London on Wednesday were Vanessa Rousso, Victor Ramdin, Alex Kravchenko, and former EPT London winner Vicky Coren. On Day 1B, Joe Hachem, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, and Barry Greenstein will take the field. Hachem, Moneymaker, and Raymer are all former World Series of Poker Main Event winners. Greenstein is a three-time WSOP bracelet holder who regularly plays in the highest-stakes cash games in the world.
Perched near the top of the field in the £5,400 buy-in tournament is Sorel Mizzi, who goes by the name “Imper1um” online. He’s the winner of multiple events as part of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series and is a member of Team Betfair. In live play, he’s chopped the Irish Poker Open for over €500,000. He sits with 94,300 chips, the fourth largest stack in the room after Day 1A, trailing the 101,500 chips of leader Mohammed Jaber.
Mizzi told Poker News Daily about his ride through Day 1A of the EPT London: “I came to my seat an hour late, which is something I’ve been experimenting with since I always find myself spewing chips at the beginning of tournaments. I was happy to see that there were four or five satellite qualifiers to my left and only one recognizable player, Chad Brown. After a few hours, I had a good idea of how everyone was playing and was very happy with my table.”
On his strategy heading into Day 2, Mizzi stated, “I don’t really have a premeditated strategy. My game plan will depend on who is at my table and the stack sizes surrounding me.” One player that will be in the field when the survivors of Days 1A and 1B reconvene is Max Pescatori, who holds the second largest chip stack after the first starting day with 99,300. The Italian is a two-time WSOP bracelet holder who won the $2,500 buy-in Half Pot Limit Omaha, Half Pot Limit Hold’em event in 2008 for $246,000.
Here are the top 10 chip stacks out of the 77 players who remain after Day 1A:
1. Mohammed Jaber (Lebanon), 101,500
2. Max Pescatori (Italy), 99,300
3. Liya Gerasimova (Russia), 97,400
4. Sorel Mizzi (Canada), 94,300
5. Carter Gill (United States), 81,600
6. Walid Rizkallah (France), 73,500
7. Gus Hansen (Denmark), 72,800
8. Michael Martin (United States), 72,200
9. Jeffrey Hakim (United States), 62,600
10. Ian Frazer (United Kingdom), 60,700
The truly unique international flair of the EPT is evident in this list. There are eight countries represented among the top 10 chip stacks. Others in the room hail from Germany, Cyprus, Israel, the Philippines, Venezuela, Hungary, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Jordan, and Costa Rica.
Play resumes today for Day 1B. The survivors from Days 1A and 1B will meet back in the Victoria Casino on Friday at 13:30 local time. A champion will be crowned on Sunday, October 5th.